Virginia Beach Voted Top Destination in U.S. to Combine Sports Events with Vacations

Tuesday, August 26, 2014 · 02:20 pm

(Virginia Beach, Va., August 26, 2014) – The City of Virginia Beach was recently voted as the top destination in the nation for combining sports events and vacations by SportsEvents magazine.This is the second honor for the Virginia Beach Convention & Visitors Bureau (CVB) in the past year, having previously been recognized by SportsEvents Media Group with a 2014 Readers’ Choice Award in February.

Polling online social media followers, SportsEvents magazine cited the city’s top-notch sporting venues and the wealth of available activities for participants and spectators as key factors to Virginia Beach ranking first in a field of 19 destinations.

“We are thrilled to have this honor,” said Virginia Beach CVB Director James B. Ricketts.“Sports marketing is a key player in helping to drive Virginia Beach’s tourism industry – which is Virginia Beach’s second-largest revenue generator – and positioning our coastal city as a year-round destination.The combination of world-class beaches and top-notch sports venues gives Virginia Beach a desirable advantage in the sports event industry.”

Data maintained by the Virginia Beach CVB Convention Sales & Marketing division shows that annually for the past five years, the CVB sports marketing sales team has generated an average of 100,338 hotel room night bookings, the majority of which occur between October and May.

The Virginia Beach Sportsplex, a multi-sport/multi-surface complex and stadium for athletic competition and home to the USA National Field Hockey Regional Training Center, and one of America’s most well-known field hockey complexes.

With 265 parks and facilities, Virginia Beach Parks & Recreation offers an array of athletic opportunities throughout the city. Earlier this year, the Virginia Beach City Council approved a proposal to construct the Princess Anne Commons Youth Baseball Complex and Stadium in a portion of the Princess Anne Commons Athletic Village. This new venue is expected to offer a host of amenities including a 5,000-seat stadium, lighted sports fields and commercial office space for sports-related education and businesses. Groundbreaking is anticipated to occur in 2015.

Where the Atlantic Ocean and the Chesapeake Bay meet, Virginia Beach promises visitors a unique chance to “Live the Life.” Nature at its finest, just-caught and just-picked local food, and toes-in-the-sand relaxation combine for a soul-satisfying experience. A world-renowned boardwalk, energetic downtown, state-of-the-art Convention Center, abundant parks and waterways, and mild weather give rise to an active lifestyle and flourishing local culture. The Virginia Beach CVB is responsible for promoting year-round leisure, business, meetings and conventions, international and sports travel to Virginia’s most populous city. For media information and images, visit www.VisitVirginiaBeach.com/pressroom. Follow Virginia Beach on Twitter at twitter.com/VisitVaBch, Instagram at instagram.com/visitvabeach, Facebook at www.facebook.com/VirginiaBeachVA and Pinterest at www.pinterest.com/visitvabeach.